If you eat bananas then there is some great news for you. Not only the fruit is healthy and delicious but also helps in digestion, weight loss, and maintaining a healthy heart.

Apart from these benefits, a study has found that bananas can help prevent heart attacks and strokes. Scientists have found that potassium present in bananas helps in preventing hardening and narrowing of arteries.

The researchers observed mice that were at risk of heart disease. They were fed either low, normal, or high level of potassium and the results showed that the arteries of mice fed low-potassium diet became significantly harder whereas the mice that were fed high potassium had substantially less hardening of arteries and reduced stiffness in their aorta.

Potassium is thought to help prevent heart attacks and strokes in humans. However, eating too much can cause stomach ache, nausea and diarrhoea.

Dr Mike Knapton, from the British Heart Foundation, said, “The study in mice showed that not eating enough potassium leads to the hardening of arteries.”

Official NHS advice is to consume 3,500mg of potassium each day, a quarter of which could be met by eating two bananas. Other foods rich in potassium include potatoes, broccoli, sprouts, seeds, fish and poultry.